Erdogan’s victory a warning to West
Despite his party’s win in the municipal elections, the Turkish prime minister’s policies, including toward Syria, are likely to lead to further political polarization and distance from the United States and Europe.
Despite the corruption allegations, Twitter ban and seemingly incriminating leaked tapes, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) won approximately 44% of the popular vote in municipal elections on March 30, according to the official tally.
Erdogan’s victory speech offered no olive branches or open hands. It was instead a clenched fist. The prime minister’s remarks conveyed his sense of righteous vindication and included a warning to his political opponents that “we will enter their lair. … They are going to pay the price.”
As Cengiz Candar writes: “Among the difficult-to-forget moments of election night were Erdogan’s emergence onto the balcony, waving his hands and raising the four-finger salute of support for the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and his declaring the situation between Turkey and Syria a “state of war” (which, of course, had nothing to do with international law).”
Candar and most analysts expect Erdogan to be even more emboldened to make a presidential run in elections scheduled for August 2014, while launching a public vendetta against the Gulen movement, which Erdogan blames for the corruption allegations and leaks.
